Egypt's increasing informal economy

Ghada Barsoum, professor of public policy at the American University in Cairo (AUC) claims that the informal economy has become the “number one source of income in Egypt,” as a result of “the lack of opportunities in the formal economy.” Seventy-five percent of Egyptian youth, according to Barsoum, are working in this situation. Maurice Chammah’s article, “With…

Private Sector and Enterprise Development Fostering Growth in MENA

Private Sector and Enterprise Development; Fostering Growth in the Middle East and North Africa is a 2010 book published by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and written by Lois Stevenson, a Visiting Research Fellow at the IDRC in Cairo, Egypt. The book is concerned with the context for private sector development (PSD) including micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs1), the PSD…

Accelerating Entrepreneurship in the Arab World

This month, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Forum of Young Global Leaders (YGL), in collaboration with Booz & Company,  launched the Accelerating Entrepreneurship in the Arab World report, which highlights ten recommendations to promote a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem across the region. Policy-makers, business leaders, academia and civil society leaders are all aiming to…